


against the morning sun

by torigates



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-10
Updated: 2011-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:30:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team finds out about Super Boy and Miss Martian. Wally reacts badly. Artemis reacts badly to <i>that</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	against the morning sun

  
In hindsight, allowing two teenagers to live alone in Mount Justice completely unsupervised was probably not the best idea the Justice League ever had. Not that anyone would say that to Batman’s face, mind you, since they all wanted to keep on living and everything.

But yeah, not the League’s finest moment, Artemis thought.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise then when she, Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad walked in on Superboy and M’gann making out on the couch. That was basically an inevitability.

The television was on in the background, the hiss of static was loud in the otherwise complete silence of the room. It was comical, actually, the two of them frozen, identical horror-struck looks on their faces. M’gann was straddled across Superboy’s lap, her cheeks stained a deep red. Superboy looked angry. Then again, he always looked angry. Artemis wasn’t sure if it was because they had interrupted their makeout session or if his face had actually just stuck like that.

It wasn’t like Artemis was stupid. She had suspected for a while now that there was something going on between Superboy and M’gann. When she had first joined the team, Artemis hadn’t been able to get M’gann to shut up about Superboy for more than five seconds. It was all, Superboy seems really angry today, and Superboy said the funniest thing, and doesn’t Superboy look dreamy when he rips off his t-shirt in a fit of rage? (Okay, she hadn’t _actually_ said that last one, but it was heavily implied.)

And then nothing. After the two of them went to Belle Reve, it was like M’gann went cold turkey on talking about Superboy. Artemis had known something was up, had suspected it was something like this. To have it actually confirmed in front of her eyes was an entirely different story. And yeah, she had liked Superboy for about twelve seconds when she first joined the team, but she had abandoned that crazy train pretty quickly thereafter.

Still, it stung a little. Mostly that M’gann hadn’t told her, but whatever. Artemis was a big girl, she could handle it.

She looked over to her fellow intruders. Robin had an expression of absolute glee on his face, Aqualad looked resigned, and Wally looked... really angry, actually.

What the hell was that about? If she had taken a moment to think about it, Artemis probably would have been willing to place money on the fact that Wally would react badly to this news. But she hadn’t thought about it, because she didn’t care what Wally thought, or how he felt about M’gann and his stupid, annoying flirting that obviously was never going to get him anywhere with her because M’gann was so obviously into Superboy.

But she hadn’t thought about it.

“Hey guys,” Robin said. “Whatcha doing?”

Superboy growled under his breath, and M’gann buried her face in his shoulder.

Behind her, Wally started to sputter. “What-what-what is going on here?”

She turned to look at him. His face was all red, casting his freckles into sharp contrast, and suddenly she felt really annoyed herself. Not at M’gann and Superboy, she didn’t care what they did on her own time, but at Wally for being such a jerk.

Robin was still smirking. “What does it look like they’re doing, KF?” he asked, and started laughing.

Finally, M’gann and Conner managed to untangle themselves. M’gann walked over looking anxious, Superboy predictably, looked angry. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, right behind M’gann.

“This is so embarrassing,” M’gann said, and she hid her face behind her hand. “Oh my god, you guys, I’m so sorry. This isn’t how we meant for you to find out! I feel terrible. Hello, Megan, what was I thinking?”

“Don’t worry,” Kaldur said, and he reached out to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Conner looked a little irked that he was touching her. “You have nothing for which you should be sorry.”

Superboy grunted in agreement, and Robin was still chuckling to himself.

“Yeah,” Artemis said. “No sweat.”

“What _what_?” Wally asked. His face was still a deep scarlet, it almost matched his hair. “They _lied_ to us. They kept this a secret. How long has this been going on?”

“None of your business,” Conner grunted out, and put an arm around M’gann.

She shrugged out of his grip and stepped away. Artemis saw a brief flash of hurt flash across Conner’s face before he quickly covered it with a scowl.

“No, he’s right,” M’gann said. “We shouldn’t have kept it a secret.”

“No,” Wally said. “You shouldn’t have.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and the scowl on his face was fierce enough to match Superboy’s.

M’gann’s face fell.

“What’s your problem?” Artemis asked, although it was painfully obvious. He was jealous. He was jealous of Superboy. She had known that he had a crush on M’gann, it was impossible not to, what with the way he was always talking to her and showering her with ridiculous compliments. It was disgusting and pathetic.

“My problem? My problem is they lied! Who knows how long they’ve been sneaking around! How many missions have we been on that could have been compromised, just because-because,” floundered for a word. “Just because they wanted to get their jollies off!”

Artemis rolled her eyes. “Oh please,” she said.

Robin was still laughing. “Come on, KF. You’re just jealous.”

He sputtered. “I am _not_ jealous! They hid their relationship from us! We’re a _team_! We’re not supposed to have secrets from each other! We’re supposed to trust each other!”

“We trust you, Wally,” M’gann said.

“Please,” he said. “You don’t keep secrets from people you trust.”

Superboy was clenching and unclenching his fists at his side. Artemis was suddenly very glad for the conversation they’d all had with him about not punching his teammates. It was an urge Artemis was intimately familiar with when it came to Wally, but that didn’t mean he deserved it. Most of the time.

“I have to say, I think you are overreacting,” Aqualad said.

“Overreacting! I am not overreacting! This is a safety and security issue. That’s all.”

“You’re being a dick,” Artemis said. “That’s all, and you should apologize to Conner and M’gann for being such an asshole.”

“I’m not the one who did anything wrong,” he said. “They’re the ones sneaking around.”

“Let it go, KF,” Robin said. “We know now.”

Artemis knew things had escalated if Robin was trying to be the voice of reason. M’gann was visably upset, and Conner looked even more angry than he usually did. If that was somehow possible.

Wally threw up his arms. “I can’t believe you guys,” he said.

“Wally...” M’gann said.

He shook his head. “Whatever. I’m out of here.”

He was gone before any of them had a chance to react.

The five of them stood around awkwardly for a long moment. “That could have gone better,” Kaldur said eventually.

“I feel horrible,” M’gann said.

“You don’t have anything to feel bad about,” Artemis said. “Wally is being a jackass, as usual.”

“No,” she said. “He’s right. We should have told you sooner.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Robin said.

“Do you think I should talk to him?” she asked fidgeting with the hemline of her skirt.

Robin shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “Give him a chance to cool off. He’ll come around.”

“I agree,” Kaldur said. “Wally just needs some time. He has always been... tempermental.”

Artemis snorted.

“I’ll try to talk to him,” Robin said.

Kaldur nodded and the two of them walked off in the direction Wally had taken off only minutes earlier. It was Kid Flash, though so he could be all the way to Antarctica by now. Not that Artemis cared. Because she most certainly did not.

“By the way,” Robin said, turning at the door. “Good for you two.” He made a motion that had he been wearing his cape would have sent it flying behind him. Artemis rolled her eyes at the theatrics.

M’gann walked back over to the couch and sat down. She buried her head in her hands and let out a groan. Conner hovered anxiously for a moment before sitting next to her and patted her on the shoulder. After a moment she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Artemis felt like she shouldn’t be there. Like she was intruding.

“Um,” she said.

Instantly, M’gann was up and across the room, and clutching one of Artemis’ hands in her own.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I wanted to tell you. I _tried_ to tell you. I know it’s no excuse but I was scared you’d be angry and I just didn’t want to face that, things have been so great between us lately, I didn’t want anything to interfere--”

“It’s okay,” Artemis said. “I’m not mad. Of course I’m not mad. I’m happy for you guys.” She looked behind M’gann to where Superboy was hovering and smiled at him. He smiled hesitantly back at her, and she realised how hard this had to be on him too.

“Okay,” M’gann said. “Are you sure? Because you seemed upset earlier and--”

Artemis shook her head. “I was mad at Wally for being such a jerk. That’s all.”

M’gann gave her a funny look but didn’t press the issue, for which Artemis was grateful.

“I’m going to,” she broke off, not sure what she wanted to do. “I’m going to go to the gym,” she said. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Conner gave a little wave, and M’gann hovered by the edge of the couch until Artemis was almost out of sight. At the door, she paused and turned back. The two of them were sitting together on the couch, their heads bowed together, talking quietly.

She turned and walked away.

Mount Justice was the best place to work out because aside from the training facility, there were several different gyms, each designed for specialty workouts, and at least two shooting ranges on top of that.

And right now, Artemis really needed to shoot things.

Mount Justice was a labyrinth. She supposed, when a place was built for a bunch of superheroes to hang out the architects didn’t concern themselves with making things user friendly. After so many months of spending all of her free time there, she had learned how to get around (it also helped that Robin had shown her how to hack the controls and access the blueprints).

By the time she had made it to the shooting range, Artemis was fuming. What right did Wally have to act that way? So what if he had a _crush_ on M’gann, if he could even call it that. What M’gann and Superboy did in their own time was their own business, and it had nothing to do with Wally or anyone else.

He was just--he was just so stupid, and stubborn, and annoying, and thoughtless, and _infuriating_. She hoped he choked on one of the ten billion snacks he ate in any given hour.

She had left her bow in the main training room when they came in, but there were plenty of weapons to choose from down here. She pulled one of the longest bows she could find off the rack. When she held it upright, it stood almost as tall as her, and she had to strain to even draw the string back.

Grabbing several arrows, she walked down to the end and started shooting. It was hard work. This bow was heavier and stiffer than hers, and soon enough she had worked up a sweat. Both her arms were aching from the strain of repeated firing, and her brow itched where sweat had accumulated.

When her quiver was empty, she put down the bow and wiped her forehead on the back of her hand. As she walked towards the target, she took the time to stretch her arms and shoulders. It had been a while since she had worked herself that hard. When she got to the end, she started yanking arrows out of the bull’s eye where they were all clustered near the centre.

She turned around and saw Robin sitting on one of the ceiling rafters. He broke out into a slow clap. Artemis rolled her eyes.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“You seem a little stressed,” he said. “Are you stressed, Artemis?”

“I was fine until two seconds ago.”

He clutched his hand over his heart. “That hurts me deeply.”

“I’m sure it does,” she said, and walked back to the shooting line, drawing another arrow into her bow.

“Aren’t you going to ask me how things went with KF?” he asked.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” she mumbled, and shot two arrows in quick succession. They hit dead centre.

He hopped down from the ceiling, landing gracefully on floor a couple feet away from her. She deliberately ignored him.

He walked around the perimeter of the shooting range, inspecting the different weapons hanging on the walls. She tried to forget he was there, but years of training had taught her to always be aware of other people on the battlefield. She always knew where he was.

“So,” she said when she had emptied her quiver for a second time. Her arms were aching, and when she reached to pull the arrows out of the target her hands shook. “What do you want?”

“Who says I need to want something?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I guess you don’t.”

“Maybe I just enjoy your company,” he said.

“Do you?”

He didn’t say anything.

She walked back to the starting line and contemplated going another round. She lifted the bow, and her arms felt mushy. If she tried for the target now, she’d be lucky to get something on the outer rings, and that wasn’t an experience she particularly wanted to live with the boy wonder watching.

She took several deep breaths and put down the bow.

“You know,” Robin said from across the room. “Wally purposefully created the accident that turned him into Kid Flash.”

She didn’t say anything. For someone who had been raised by Batman, Robin sure knew how to beat around the bush. He’d get to his point, or he wouldn’t, and besides it wasn’t like the Kid Flash was someone high on her list of conversational topics.

“That’s just how he is. When there’s something he wants he goes out and gets it. Unfortunately for the rest of us that usually means explosions and mayhem follow.”

“So the rest of us are just supposed to--what?” she asked.

Robin shrugged.

“Whatever,” she said. “Whatever, I don’t even care about that. He can do whatever he wants as long as he leaves me out of it.”

“Right,” Robin said. “You’re very obviously tressed right now.”

She sighed. “Do I even want to know?”

“ _Tressed_ ,” he said. “You know, the opposite of distressed.”

“I’m not distressed.”

“That’s what I just said.”

“I sensed some sarcasm.”

He looked at her completely straight-faced. “I am never sarcastic,” he said, and sounded a little too much like Batman for her liking.

“Okay,” she said. “Why are you telling me this?”

He shrugged. “Who said I need a reason?”

She was pretty sure he had a reason for everything he did ever, but she wasn’t going to press the issue, lest she get another story about how when Wally wanted something he went out and got it.

Well, he wasn’t going to get M’gann and that was something he would just have to accept whether he liked it or not. Artemis wasn’t going to be the one dealing with any explosions.

“Anyway,” Robin said. “I’ll leave you to... whatever it is you’re doing down here.” Before she could say anything else he was gone. At this point she was about ninety percent sure that Robin was just using secret passageways to make his dramatic exits. Probably picked it up from Batman.

She stood alone in the training bay for another long moment breathing heavily. The workout hadn’t helped as much as she hoped it would. Her skin felt tight with irritation, and she really wanted to hit someone. If that someone had red hair and super speed, well, then all the better.

Finally, she gathered her things and made her way back to the common area. There was no sign of Robin (he had probably slipped back into the shadows, or wherever it was he hung out when he wasn’t messing with the team), Aqualad, or M’gann. Artemis was decidedly _not_ looking for Kid Flash.

Superboy was sitting on the couch. The TV was on, _no signal_ glaring a harsh contrast against the static snow background.

“Hey,” he said when she walked in.

She nodded in response and sat down on the other end of the couch. “Where’s M’gann?” she asked.

“She went to talk to Wally,” he said, looking upset.

Artemis nodded. Neither spoke for a long moment, the hiss of the television the only sound.

“Are you _watching_ this?” she asked after a moment.

“Yeah,” he said. The _so what of it_ , was heavily implied by his tone.

“Cool,” she said. Her quiver was on the other side of the room. She walked over and picked it up before coming back and settling on the couch. She had noticed lately that some of her shots had been curving slightly to the left.

Neither one of them spoke as she worked on her arrows, and Conner watched his static. It was actually kind of peaceful, in a weird way. There was nothing to concentrate on besides the task in front of her, and the faint noise emitted by the television blocked out all other distractions. Conner didn’t expect her to talk about her feelings, or ask her why she was so upset, she could just sit and get some work done and think about other things.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

Artemis looked up from the large stack of arrows she had adjusted. She hadn’t realised how much time had gone by. Superboy was standing beside the couch, gesturing toward the kitchen.

“I was going to get something to eat,” he said. “Do you want something?”

She considered it. “I guess I could eat,” she said, and rose to her feet.

“I didn’t know that we should tell the team about us,” he said suddenly.

She looked over at him. He looked actually kind of nervous and guilty. It was the expression she had gotten used to seeing on his face whenever Superman was around, and she thought, in all the mess and confusion, none of them had really stopped to think about how Conner was feeling with everything that had happened. It was probably something they should work on as a team, she thought. Remembering that Conner had feelings. He was so often a one speed kind of guy (that speed being ‘angry’) that sometimes she forgot he was new to well, pretty much everything.

“Hey,” she said. “Don’t sweat it. I think out of everyone you probably handled things the best.”

He ventured a small smile. “There’s a first.”

She snorted.

“I just really like M’gann,” he said earnestly. “I didn’t think that would upset everyone.”

“It doesn’t,” she said. “Really, it doesn’t, Conner,” she continued when he didn’t look convinced. “I know it probably didn’t look that way, what with everyone overreacting and stuff, but you didn’t do anything wrong.”

He nodded as if he understood, and Artemis hoped that he did.

Superboy made them sandwiches and they sat together in the kitchen and ate them. When she was done eating, Artemis went home.

When her mom asked her about her day, Artemis said it was fine and went into her room and didn’t come out for the rest of the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that, it wasn’t like she was avoiding Wally or anything. The team just didn’t have any missions, and so she had no reason to go by Mount Justice.

Besides, she had school and homework, and other things to occupy her time. It wasn’t like she was purposefully not going by HQ. She just had other things to do.

She was busy, that was all.

It eventually took M’gann cornering her after school one day. Artemis was so surprised to see her teammate standing on the front steps of her school building, she couldn’t get any words out. It was what let M’gann get the drop on her.

“Where have you been?” she asked.

Artemis still wasn’t used to seeing M’gann in her human skin. She looked the same, but different. It was weird.

She shrugged. “Around.”

“Why haven’t you been coming by Mount Justice?” she asked.

Artemis didn’t say anything. She still wasn’t used to her new life, in which she fought crime, and went to a prestigious school, and had teammates, and people who counted on her and missed her when she wasn’t around and wanted her to be responsible for her time. It had been just her for so long she had forgotten what that was like, to have other people who cared about you and wanted you around.

“You’re mad at me,” M’gann said.

“What?” Artemis asked. “No.”

“Then where have you been? You’ve been avoiding me ever since you found out about me and Conner, and I know you said you weren’t mad last time, but it kind of seems like you are.”

“I’m not mad,” Artemis said.

“Are you sure?” M’gann looked uncertain, and she felt a stab of guilt for making her friend worry. She hadn’t thought M’gann would take her absence personally. She hadn’t thought anyone would really even notice that she hadn’t been around.

“Yes. I’m sure.”

“Then why have you been avoiding me?” M’gann asked.

“I haven’t been avoiding you... exactly,” she said.

“Then what?”

Artemis shifted uncomfortably.

“Hello, Megan!” M’gann’s eyes lit up and she smacked the ball of her fist against her forehead.

“Don’t say it,” Artemis warned, knowing already what M’gann was going to say.

“You’re avoiding Wally!”

Artemis scowled. “I said, don’t say it.”

“I knew it!”

“No you didn’t,” she said. “Because there’s nothing to know. I haven’t been avoiding you or anyone else, I’ve just been busy with school and stuff.”

M’gann shot her a look that said she wasn’t buying it. “Fine,” she said sweetly. “Then you can come back to Mount Justice with me right now.”

“Fine,” Artemis grumbled, and it was only because she couldn’t think of an excuse that would hold up to M’gann’s scrutinizing, and whatever it wasn’t like she was actually avoiding Wally or anyone else. She could go to Mount Justice if she wanted to. She just hadn’t wanted to lately.

The walk from Artemis’ school to the abandoned phone booth the team used as the Gotham City entrance to Mount Justice wasn’t a far one. They made it there in less than fifteen minutes, and M’gann spent the entire time chatting about how things were going for her at school, and such-and-such funny thing Conner had done, and her various cooking fiascoes. Artemis hummed whenever it seemed like M’gann required a response from her, but she was only half listening.

When they arrived, she stepped forward, but M’gann put her hand on Artemis’ arm.

“Do you want to tell me what’s really bothering you before we go in there?” she asked.

Artemis crossed her arms over her chest. “Nothing is bothering me.”

M’gann smiled at her. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she said. “But I don’t have to read your mind to know that something is bothering you. If you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

Artemis hated when she did things like that. “Thanks,” she said.

M’gann nodded, and stepped into the phone booth. Artemis took a deep breath and followed her.

_Recognized Artemis: B07._

Conner and Robin were sparring on the training floor, and Black Canary was supervising. M’gann was already watching from the edge, next to Kaldur and Wally. Artemis quickly went to change out of her school uniform and into her archer duds, before joining her teammates who were observing the fight.

“Artemis,” Aqualad said in greeting.

She nodded. “Kaldur.”

“We have not seen you around of late,” he remarked.

“I’ve been busy.”

He hummed but didn’t say anything else. “It’s good to see you,” he said eventually.

She smiled. “You too.”

Wally glanced over. “Artemis,” he said.

She nodded, before turning her attention to Robin and Superboy. Conner had strength on his side, no one could doubt that, but Robin was quick. He’d land a blow and then dance away before Superboy could retaliate. She could quickly see how frustrated Conner was getting.

“How long has this been going on?” she asked.

“About ten minutes,” Wally said.

She ignored him.

Once or twice Superboy would land a hit, but nothing that kept Robin down for long. Most of the strikes Robin did seem to get bounced off Superboy’s impervious chest. It was fascinating to watch them fight because it was about ninety percent strategy and ten percent actual hitting. Usually Artemis enjoyed the hitting more than the planning, but watching her two teammates, she could imagine what great heroes they’d both be someday. After another ten minutes Black Canary stepped in.

“Good work,” she said.

The two of them stood panting in the middle of the floor while she gave each of them a few pointers. Finally, she turned to where the four of them were standing and grinned. “Who’s next?” she asked.

Artemis stepped forward.

So did Wally.

“Archer against Speedster?” Canary asked. “This should be good.”

“No arrows,” said Wally.

“Do you see me carrying my quiver?” she asked.

He didn’t say anything.

The key to fighting someone who was faster than you was to never let them gain momentum. Artemis moved slowly around the outside of the ring, keeping her eyes on Wally’s feet, looking for any hint of sudden movement.

She never saw it. One moment she was standing watching Wally, the next she was flat on her back, and he was on the other side of the mat. She jumped back up on her feet, and saw Wally grinning at her.

“Too slow,” he said.

She circled to her left, still keeping her eyes on him. This time, she caught a brief flicker of movement. She jumped to her side, but not quick enough, she felt his foot catch around the back of hers and she was falling. Artemis yanked her knee back and managed to bring him down with her. She felt her back slam into the mat, and she reached out to try and hit him again, but he had already moved out of her reach.

She jumped to her feet again.

“Nice one,” he said with a smirk.

Artemis didn’t respond. She took several steps around the edge of the mat, and this time she didn’t wait to see him move. She just jumped and turned, and suddenly Kid Flash was on the other side with his back to her.

She surged forward and tackled him. He went down knees first, and she landed on top of him, her thighs straddled across his back.

“Who’s too slow now,” she couldn’t resist hissing at him.

His elbow jabbed out and she jerked back to avoid being hit. He used her momentum to roll the two of them, and she felt the mat press into her back again. His knees dug into her sides, and he grinned down at her. “I’m going to go with still you.”

She punched him in the jaw, and he went reeling back. She scrambled to her feet again. “Obviously no one ever taught you when you’re pinning someone down you need to take out their arms,” she said.

He rubbed his face. “That hurt,” he said.

“You’ll get over it.”

He rushed at her again, but now that Artemis knew what she was looking for, or _not_ looking for, she knew how to spot it. She was ready when he came at her, and she jumped out of the way, grabbing his arm and twisting behind it. From this position she knew it would be easy to break it, but she didn’t. Fast metabolism or no, that was probably crossing a line.

He kicked out behind him, and wrapped his leg around behind her ankle, and the two of them fall backwards. She twisted mid-fall, narrowly avoiding Kid Flash falling on top of her. She rolled immediately, and tried to pin him down again. He managed to keep out of her grasp, and she was suddenly struck by how unfair super speed was when it came to one on one combat.

Wally tried to tackle her again, but she moved out of the way. The training room had gone quiet, either that or Artemis just wasn’t paying attention to anything else going on around her.

“Afraid to hit me?” she asked him, and threw another punch. He dodged.

“No,” he said.

“So you just suck then?” she asked mildly.

He sputtered and lashed out. Artemis easily avoided his blow.

“That’s the best you got?” she asked.

He mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, _I don’t hit girls_. Artemis was so outraged she forgot what she was doing, and the next thing she knew she was flat on her back, and she could taste blood.

“Artemis!” Wally sounded distressed.

She stood slowly, and wiped at her face. Her nose was probably broken, she thought, but she’d been through worse.

“You were supposed to block!” he said, still sounding upset.

“What?” she snarled. “Because you _don’t hit girls_?”

“Not on purpose,” he said.

“Then what are we even doing?” she asked. “I thought we were fighting.” She turned and kicked out, catching him in the stomach. He let out an ‘oomph’ as he fell over on the mat, clutching his stomach. “In fighting you hit people,” she said.

He looked torn between being really angry and still feeling bad for her bloody nose. She could feel moisture on her face, and knew she was still bleeding.

“What’s the matter with you?” he asked, standing up to face her. His hands were on his hips, and it looked like he had settled on just plain mad.

She noticed the others watching them then.

“I think that’s enough,” Canary said, stepping into the middle of the ring.

“Fine,” Artemis said.

M’gann was at her side. “I think your nose is broken,” she said examining Artemis’ face.

“Yeah,” she said. It was really starting to hurt.

“Come to the infirmary,” M’gann said. “I’ll take a look.”

“Okay,” Artemis said. She wiped more blood off her face.

“What was _that_?” M’gann asked when they were away from the others.

“What was what?”

“That fight. You looked like you wanted to rip Wally’s head off and feed it to your enemies.”

Artemis wiped at her face again. “It was just sparring,” she said.

“That was _not_ just sparring,” M’gann insisted.

Artemis shrugged. Maybe, _maybe_ she had gotten a little carried away.

“What’s going on with you?” M’gann asked when they made it to the infirmary. She forced Artemis to sit on one of the beds and handed her a tissue. “Hold this,” she said, and put her hands on either side of Artemis’ face, feeling along her nose with her thumbs.

“That’s definitely broken,” she said.

“Thanks, I got that much,” Artemis said.

“Quiet,” M’gann said, and pressed against her nose. She felt an overwhelming pressure, and tears immediately sprung to her eyes. Then she could breathe again. “There,” she said. “That should be better.”

“Thanks,” Artemis said.

M’gann waved her off. “Just be careful,” she said. She turned her back and rummaged through the drawers until she came back with a butterfly bandage and applied it to the bridge of Artemis’ nose. “Now talk,” she said.

“What?” Artemis asked.

“There’s obviously something going on. You’ve been avoiding us, and I don’t care what you said that was not just sparring. Something’s bothering you.”

Artemis sighed and touched her nose gingerly. M’gann continued to stare at her with her arms crossed over her chest. After a long moment she threw up her hands.

“Fine,” she said. “You obviously don’t want to talk about it. I’ll say this again: I’m not going to force you to talk, but I’m here if you ever want to. And I think you should.”

She turned and walked out. For a moment Artemis considered following her, but in the end she didn’t. She thought about getting some ice for her nose, or going back to the group, but she couldn’t seem to take that first step off the exam table.

She lay back and stretched her arms out over her head. Her whole body was tired. Maybe it had been more than just sparring, but it had still be a good workout. Energy was thrumming in her veins. She felt worn out, but in the good way. She felt looser than she had in days, and she realised she had let go of a lot of the anger she had been holding on to.

She took several deep breaths and finally allowed herself to think about the thing she had been ignoring all week. The thing everyone had been asking her about. The thing she had been denying.

Wally.

She was angry and jealous.

Jealous of the way Wally had reacted to the news of Superboy and M’gann, angry at herself for caring.

She needed to get over it. Wally would do whatever he was going to do, and there was nothing she could do about it.

There was a cough from across the room. She sat up to see Wally standing in the doorway. He had a large purple bruise spreading along his jaw. It looked partially healed already, and that just plain wasn’t fair.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she said.

He walked across the room, and winced when he saw her face. “I’m sorry about your nose,” he said.

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

He reached out and touched her jaw, and she had to struggle not to lean into it. His fingers were cool and dry against her hot skin.

“You have a black eye,” he said. “I thought you’d block the hit.”

She looked down and his hand fell from her face. “I was distracted,” she said.

Her hands were on her knees, and he reached out and ran his fingers down her forearm, before twining them with hers. It was such a small gesture, but she couldn’t look away from their hands. She wanted to reach out and touch him, and she was thankful for his grip against hers stopping her.

“Why are you mad at me?” he asked after a moment. His voice sounded unsure, nervous. She wasn’t used to hearing him like that.

“I’m not,” she said looking up at him.

He raised his eyebrows.

“I’m not anymore,” she amended.

He rolled his eyes. “So fine. Why were you mad at me?”

“It’s nothing,” she said. She didn’t want to say it out loud because that would make it real. It was petty and stupid, and she had been acting childish, she realised.

“No,” he said, and his voice was firm. “It’s not nothing. Tell me.”

“Why wouldn’t you hit me?” she asked. She remembered his, _I don’t hit girls_ from the ring, and suddenly, she had to know why. Had to know why he wouldn’t hit her, had to know whether he thought she wasn’t good enough.

“Um hello? I did. Or have you already forgotten the broken nose you’re currently sporting?” he asked.

She smiled wryly, and shook her head. Her one had was still caught in his, and she touched her nose gingerly with the other. It stung. “That was an accident. You were trying not to hit me.”

“So?”

“So, we were _fighting_ , Wally. That’s kind of the point.”

He just looked at her.

“Do you think I can’t handle it?” she asked.

“What? No. No, Artemis. Believe me, I know you can hold your own. And kick my ass too.”

“Then what is it?” she pressed.

“I didn’t want to hurt you!” he shouted and turned his back.

She sat, stunned. Finally she reached out and touched his shoulder. He was tense, all his muscles coiled up as if he was ready to bolt at any second.

“Wally,” she said.

He turned. He looked so vulnerable and open, she almost wanted to run away rather than face what was looking at her right now. What she had been upset and angry over all week. She trailed her hand down from his shoulder, curling her fingers around his elbow and tugging him forward. He stepped into the open v of her legs, and she looked up at him hoping he would see on her face what she hadn’t been able to say out loud or even really acknowledge to herself.

He leaned down. They were so close their foreheads were almost touching, and he reached out and touched her jaw again, before sliding his hand around behind her neck and pulling her the rest of the way to him.

The kiss was gentle, just their mouths touching at first. Artemis was almost afraid to move, almost afraid to breathe, as if anything she did would break this brief moment of truce between the two of them. Then Wally took a half step forward, and slid his free hand around her pressing it flat against her back. She tilted her head back and opened her mouth. Wally slid his tongue against hers and she gasped a little, causing him to grip her tighter. She slid both her arms around his waist, her fingers clawing at the fabric of his uniform.

They kissed, and she clutched at him tightly. He moved against her body like he thought she could keep up with him, and she didn’t want it to end.

His nose bumped against hers and she had to pull back.

“Ow,” she said.

He looked immediately concerned. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay. Just a broken nose.”

“I thought you’d block,” he said again.

She reached out and touched his chest. “It’s okay,” she said.

He looked down at her hand splayed across the lightning bolt symbol there for a long time. Finally he looked back up at her, their eyes meeting.

“We’re okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. We’re good.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(If the rest of the team happened to walk in on them making out on that same couch a week later, well Artemis wasn’t going to be the one to point out the irony.)


End file.
